Isaiah starts chapter 45 with a prophecy of a future king, Cyrus, who will be raised up of the Lord, though he know it not. Or rather, this king, Cyrus “the Great” would not the Lord. That Isaiah could prophecy this future king’s reign, especially as it pertained to the overthrowing of one kingdom and the rise of a new kingdom, the Lord knows all of this from the beginning: “I the Lord do all these things.” (vs. 7)
This chapter is amazing. Continuing to reinforce this reality that God is capable of all that he decrees, juxtaposed to the idols of men’s fashioning that are literally dead objects that can do nothing. Though God is hidden from man’s view, he does that which is righteous always. (See vs. 19)
Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.
Verse 11
Or in other words, ask me what you will, of things past or future. I am able to show it to you.
Those that persist in the construction of idols, they will end in confusion. (Even movies are idols. The construction of great pageantry that is to what end?) On the other hand are those that will persist in helping the Lord to save Israel. Of those the Lord promises: “ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.” (vs. 17)
(Spend one more day on verse 20-25. I understand them, but I am having a harder time articulating what this means at this moment to me.)
“Ye that are escaped of the nations.” What labors of man are there that are not to the end of idol worship, or better yet, that set men up to worship the works of their own hands, instead of God? Is this not most of modern labor the uprising of man, a metaphorical tower of Babel? If so, if this be true, then how applicable are the words of Isaiah to even a modern world, who’s priorities haven’t changed for a very long time.
“There is no God else beside me; a just God and a Savior.” We are either worshiping this true and living God or we are not. If it were so, if it were otherwise, he would have told us as much. I am also contemplating what it means to belong to the only church that God has claimed as His own. If it be true, what a humbling statement it is! What privilege is ours if indeed we do belong to the Church that He established for the completion of his covenants with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What a sacred trust is ours if this is the only authorized organization that the true and living God has placed his stamp of approval upon. How lightly I sometimes in the past have let those words just roll of my lips, without even the slightest consideration of the full ramifications of such a statement, divisive and otherwise.
What I am saying is that if, in truth, I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ as established by Himself personally, perhaps some reconsideration of my personal relationship to it (the Church) is in order. Do I regard it as an organized entity founded by Divinity itself? How does that change my relationship to it?
“Look unto me, and be ye saved.” These final verses are witness of Christ’s infinite and real ability to save and to the reality that in the end of times, our times, men will come unto Christ and take on themselves that the strength of Christ that he has to offer.
“Every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.” Why? Because the way of Christ, the strength that comes from looking to Jesus Christ is the only way. All will eventually come to this realization.